


The Perilous Measure

by RobinMistySaddle



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, Intrigue, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-13 22:27:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11194719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinMistySaddle/pseuds/RobinMistySaddle
Summary: The Doctor and Sarah Jane are supposed to be going to London in 1596, but that's not where the TARDIS takes them





	The Perilous Measure

Dain peered at the tiny scrap of paper, inches away from his eyes. He held the electric torch up next to his face to he could read better. When he was done, he stared at Anastas. “Do you trust who gave you this information?”

“With my life,” she responded without hesitation. The two of them stood face to face, not quite a foot apart. The torches barely illuminated the cavern. The light just touched the four other men with him.

“Get out of here,” Dain said. “We’ll take it from here.” Anastas turned and started to head toward the exit behind. “No.” Dain turned and pointed to one of the side exits. “That one. Never leave by the same way you entered.”

Anastas nodded, and headed toward the tunnel Dain had pointed at. She flicked the goggles down and disappeared into the blackness.

Dain put his hand out to one of the other men. “Hugon, get this information out immediately.” Hugon snatched the paper from Dain’s hand and began to tap on his wrist messenger.

A small canister came bouncing into room from the entrance that Anastas had come from. “A percussion grenade!” Dain shouted, but almost immediately it exploded with an incredible boom. The cavern swarmed with men, bulky in heavy black clothes, with helmets with their visors down, holding their rifles. Dain and his men lay writhing on the floor, their hands pressed over their ears.

Moments later a well dressed man in scarlet robes swept into the cavern and coolly observed the scene. He walked to Aleck and grabbed his wrist, studying the wrist messenger. He turned to one of the soldiers and said calmly, “Let the boss know we have the rebels and that the information is secure.”

To Dain and his men, they could see the man’s lips moving, but could only hear a painful ringing in their ears.

* * *

“How do I look?” Sarah Jane asked as she swished into the control room. The bodice and sleeves were brown and the skirt blue. She fidgeted with a simple cap. “I can’t believe that women wore all of these things. Do you know how many parts I had to put on? Not to mention I can’t breathe.”

“Lovely,” the Doctor stared intently at the TARDIS controls.

“Doctor!” Sarah Jane exclaimed. “You’re not paying attention to a word I’m saying.”

“Oh, hmm?” He looked up at her. “Yes, perfect. You’ll fit in well. London, 1596.” He threw a lever and the TARDIS engines began their work to materialize.

“But, Doctor,” she said as she looked at the screen. “That’s not London, at least not in 1596.” The TARDIS sat at the end of a bright, white, sterile hallway. 

The Doctor looked back down at the controls. “Hmm. Somehow the coordinates aren’t quite right.” He fiddled with the knobs and threw the lever again. “Let’s try it this time.” The engines began to moan to life but almost as quickly shut back down again. “The old girl doesn’t want to move.” He peered closer at the controls. “Hullo? What’s this?”

Sarah Jane moved over to him. “What are we going to do?”

“I guess we’ll have to poke around a bit.” He looked back up at her. “You look ridiculous like that. You’ll never fit in here. Go change.”

When she reappeared in her skirt and blouse, he looked her up and down. “That’s your choice?”

“You’re one to talk,” she said as crossed her arms, “with that floppy hat and ridiculous scarf.”

“Yes,” he replied, “but I don’t care what people think of what I’m wearing.”

Sarah Jane followed him out of the TARDIS in a huff. 

The TARDIS sat at the end of a stark white hallway. Canisters of light lined the wall on both the floor and the ceiling every few feet or so. “It’s very bright,” Sarah Jane remarked as she squinted slightly.

“Yes,” the Doctor said, glancing around, “I suppose it is. Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“What do you mean?” she asked as she looked around, trying to figure out what he was looking at.

He went back and shut the door of the TARDIS and locked it. “The old girl will be fine right here, I suppose. Come along. Let’s see why we’re here.”

They came to an intersection with another corridor. “Isn’t it strange that there’s nobody around?”

The Doctor looked up and down that corridor before continuing. His pace forced Sarah Jane to have to hurry to keep up. “I believe it will only be a matter of time before somebody comes along.” He had just said that when a man in scarlet robes followed by two heavily armed soldiers rounded the corner in front of them. “And here they are.” He called, “Hello!” waving slightly.

All three stopped. The soldiers raised their rifles, pointing them at the Doctor and Sarah Jane.

“There’s no need for that,” he said slightly anxiously. He raised his arms. “See, nothing there.”

“Doctor!” Sarah Jane exclaimed.

“A doctor?” the man in scarlet asked. “You don’t seem like one, certainly dressed...” he gestured at him.

“See, Doctor,” Sarah Jane teased. “He doesn’t think much of your clothes either.”

“It’s the latest fashion,” the Doctor declared, ignoring Sarah Jane. “Besides, what does it matter what I wear as long as I do my job?”

“And you are?” The man pointed at Sarah Jane.

“I’m Sarah Jane Smith. I’m an-”

“She’s with me,” the Doctor cut her off. “She travels with me. But we don’t know who you are.” He looked at him expectantly.

“Follow me. I need more answers.” He turned on his heel and walked away the same way he came. The Doctor and Sarah Jane looked at each other and followed him, with the soldiers not far behind them.

* * *

Dain, Aleck and the others knelt on the floor of a large hall in front of a dais, surrounded by guards. Aleck whispered to Dain as a pudgy man entered and shuffled across the dais before sitting on a chair, “It’s the President himself.”

“Quiet,” Dain whispered back. “It doesn’t matter.”

“What do we have here?” the President bellowed. “Who are these people? Where’s Lyell?”

The man in scarlet swept in and stood to the side of the kneeling men. “Your Excellency, I have something else that needs your urgent attention. We discovered two strangers in the corridors of the Tower. We cannot figure out who they are. One only identifies himself as a doctor.”

The President perked up. “A doctor?” He turned his head to the side. “Where’s Anastas?”

Anastas meekly entered from the same door The President had entered. She paused briefly when she saw Dain and his men kneeling on the floor, catching herself before moving quickly to the President’s side. “Yes, sir?” she asked meekly.

“Is there a doctor coming here?” he demanded.

She lifted a tablet and quickly scrolled through it. “No, sir. Nothing scheduled.”

He turned back to Lyell. “He had gotten past security?”

“Yes, Your Excellency,” Lyell responded.

The President sat back in his chair. “I’m intrigued. Bring him here.”

* * *

They had been left alone in a conference room. The two soldiers could be seen standing as sentries through the small window in the door. “I’m not sure where this gets us,” Sarah Jane confessed.

“Neither am I,” the Doctor admitted, “but if the old girl wouldn’t let us leave, then we’ll have to figure it out on our own.” He grinned slightly.

“You know something more than you’re letting on,” she accused.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” he said as he pantomimed ‘Shh’.

“Oh,” she said. And then, “Oh! If you say so.”

The Doctor sat down at the end of the table, leaned back and pulled his hat down over his eyes. Sarah Jane sat at the other end and soon began to impatiently drum her fingers. The Doctor raised the brim of his hat and Sarah Jane sheepishly stopped.

Not long after Lyell entered. “The President demands to see you. Come along.”

The Doctor grinned at Sarah Jane as they followed him out of the room. When they entered the hall, Lyell pointed to a spot next to the kneeling men. “Stand there,” he ordered.

“Hello,” the Doctor called. “You must be the President.”

“My men,” the President said leaning forward, ignoring the Doctor’s greeting, “They tell me that you were inside the halls of the Presidential Tower, but they don’t know who you are. So, how’d you get in? Past security and all. You know I have the best security. Just top notch.”

“Oh, well,” the Doctor explained, “that’s the thing with the old girl; she sometimes ends up places she shouldn’t be.”

The President looked confused. Anastas leaned forward and whispered in the President’s ear. “And you say you’re a doctor. A doctor of what? Cause I don’t really need a doctor. I’m in great condition.”

“I’m not A doctor. I’m THE Doctor.”

“And her?” he pointed at Sarah Jane. “Who’s she?”

“She,” answered Sarah Jane, “is Sarah Jane. I’m with the Doctor.”

“Your excellency,” Lyell interjected, “we’re still investigating this. But as of now, we have these other men.”

The President blinked and then sat back. “These men...”

“They are disloyal,” Lyell said. “We have been tracking down the leaks and those that are conspiring against you. We feel we are close to finding who is the source.”

“So these guys, what’s their role?” he asked.

“They are getting information twisting it and distributing it for the journalists to publish their fake news,” Lyell explained. “This is a major cog in the apparatus of the people who are conspiring against you.”

The President leaned forward and scowled. He pointed at the kneeling men. “Yer outta here.”

The soldiers got the men to their feet and escorted them out of the hall.

“Doctor,” Sarah Jane asked, “Where are they going? What’s going to happen to them?”

The President snapped his head around and looked at her briefly. “These two,” he said to Lyell. “Put them someplace...safe.” He got up and hurried out of the room.

“You heard him,” Lyell said. “We’ll find someplace nice and safe for you. At least until we have more information.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this, please check out my other works


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